MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The German-based anti-Islamization group Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (Pegida) on Tuesday dismissed reports of an alleged assault on a refugee camp in Dresden.
Earlier in the day, several German media outlets reported that after a demonstration in Dresden on Monday some 100 Pegida supporters tried to storm a refugee camp erected on the Theaterplatz Square last week by activists who campaigned for refugees' rights. News outlets also cited local police as saying that they managed to prevent the clashes between Pegida supporters and refugees.
Pegida said that as its supporters came to the camp, ”there already were masked, unidentified people crying out senseless chants,” and denied any aggression toward the camp. The organization concluded that “another attempt to discredit PEGIDA is therefore failed.”
Pegida, an anti-Islamization group, has faced some criticism over its alleged xenophobic and islamophobic character. However, the organization denies it has any underlying far-right ideology. Instead, it claims to seek stricter immigration rules in Germany, particularly for Muslims.
On Monday, some 6,200 people participated in the weekly Pegida march in Dresden, according to Der Spiegel news outlet. In contrast, only 4,800 people came to the demonstration last week.
